Star Trek: Picard Production Shuts Down Unexpectedly
Production on Star Trek: Picard has stopped!
On the deck of the Enterprise, Captain Jean-Luc Picard would’ve told his helmsman, “Full stop.” That’s reportedly what’s happened on production for the Paramount+ series Star Trek: Picard. With season 2 of the series set to premiere in February, progress on the series has come to a screeching halt.
The report comes from The Hollywood Reporter, who cites unnamed sources informing them that over 50 people who are part of the production of Star Trek: Picard have tested positive for COVID-19, prompting the abrupt shut down. THR notes Picard‘s production employs over 450 people, meaning — assuming the reports are accurate — a little over 11% of Picard‘s production has COVID. The report does not mention whether or not any members of the cast were included in those who tested positive. The show is reportedly set to resume filming early next week.
In most likelihood, the news shouldn’t impact the release of season 2 of Star Trek: Picard. As reported by Comic Book, filming for season 2 wrapped in September. For scheduling and budgetary purposes, the decision was made to film seasons 2 and 3 back-to-back. So, it was most likely the season 3 filming that came to a halt, though it’s possible post-production work on season 2 has been impacted.
With fans still waiting for the release of Star Trek: Picard‘s second season, little is known about what’s in store for season 3. However, in September the series’ co-showrunner Terry Matalas posted a series of very interesting production photos. The images showed pieces of the set that looked much more like the interiors of ships from the Star Trek: The Next Generation era of the franchise, and even one that featured a prop from even earlier — dating back to 1991’s Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the final film starring the crew from Star Trek: The Original Series.
There has been some speculation that Star Trek: Picard season 3 could deal with something that’s been teased in Star Trek: Discovery — the Temporal Wars. The event was first mentioned in the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise, and in season 3 of Discovery we learned the conflict was so disastrous it prompted the Federation to ban all types of time travel. We already know time travel will factor into the upcoming season of Picard, and judging by the production photos, it will likewise be a big part of season 3.
Along with journeys to the past, Star Trek: Picard promises to bring with it some familiar faces. We know that Jonathan Frakes will be reprising his role as William Riker in the upcoming season. Brent Spiner will also return but not as the android Data — he will instead play Dr. Atlan Soong, the son of Data’s creator Noonian Soong. Earlier this month, Frakes revealed that one of his favorite scenes is one he and Spiner got to share with another old friend, John de Lancie who is returning as the mischievous and seemingly all-powerful Q. While a release date hasn’t yet been made public for the premiere of Picard‘s second season, it’s expected to drop on Paramount+ some time in February.
